The 20 Most Important Things We Learned At The NFL Combine (Episode 964 with Evan Silva and Adam Levitan)

Hello and welcome to episode 964 of the official, established the Run.com podcast.

My name is Adam Levittan, the NFL calendar never stops.

The 2026 Combine wrapped up in Indy, pregnancy, his mere days away.

Evan is back.

How's it going today, buddy?

It's going great.

I can't stand this new lighting that I'm dealing with right now.

It makes me look like him as old as Pat Thormin.

But what will work on that?

We'll get that fixed.

You can go to YouTube if you'd like to see what Evan thinks Pat Thormin looks like in

the mirror here if you'd like.

All right.

On today's show, we were going to discuss 20 of the most important things we saw during

the NFL Combine.

There were trades, there were rumors, there were prospect evaluations, and more.

All of that information flows through to our bestball rankings, which are live now for

bestball subscribers.

That product is just $59.99 and runs for 365 days.

It'll give you access to all our NFL bestball ranks and contacts throughout the summer and

into playoff only best ball at the end of each season.

All right.

Let's get into it here.

Evan will start with number one biggest story coming out of Combine week, lions, trade,

David Montgomery, to the Texans for juice shrugs, juice shrugs, a fourth round pick, and

a seventh round pick.

I was really surprised the Texans gave up this much and had to give up this much for

David Montgomery to give up a talented offensive lineman and a round four pick for a 29-year-old

running back.

Now, I did think that David Montgomery did a really nice job in Detroit in his role, but

the Houston offensive line, I mean, they traded away tight as Howard on Monday also.

The Houston run scheme has been so broken, is David Montgomery the guy that's going to

fix this?

Is he going to create explosives on his own?

I don't really think so.

So, I get it.

He's kind of Joe Mixin-esque a bit to me, but Evan, what do you think of the Texans trade

for David Montgomery?

Yeah.

It's important to keep in mind that what the Texans gave up was very substantial.

For the second straight offseason, the Texans are trying to remake their offensive line.

You mentioned tight as Howard, juice shrugs.

They did the previous offseason as well.

I think at the end of the day, David Montgomery is going from a Detroit team that scores a

lot of points, and his game is very much built on touchdowns to a team that doesn't score

a lot of points, has major offensive line issues, but can give him a near full workload.

I think that Woody Marks is going to exist in a change of pace role, and David Montgomery

will be the Texans every down back.

So, I could see him getting similar workloads to what Joe Mixin was getting when he was healthy,

but those are the two guys at the top of the depth chart.

You got Joar Jordan.

He'll be back to compete for a roster spot, but I think that David Montgomery has a real

chance to be a worker.

He's also a really good pass blocking running back.

And they need that in front of CJ Stroud because of their offensive line issues.

I think that he's going to play a lot of snaps in Houston, and I think that that's what

David Montgomery wants.

Yeah.

Woody Marks as a rookie was banged up a lot, averaged just 3.6 yards per carry and

caught 24 balls in 16 games.

They used a lot of draft capital, not just to take Woody Marks, but to move up to get

Woody Marks also.

And so, this is the second straight year they have invested pretty heavily.

It does not look to me like I agree with Evan.

This is now David Montgomery's backfield.

It does not look to me like Woody Marks is going to have any type of usable role here,

at least for the outset.

What I'd love to see them do is use Woody Marks in the way they used him in college, which

has catch the ball a ton.

And if David Montgomery be the pounder, we didn't see that at all from them last year.

So I mean, that's something to watch.

This offseason is can they get Woody Marks involved more in the passing game?

But yeah, we're at 81 overall right now in the half PPR ranks on David Montgomery.

I can see us getting a little bit higher there, maybe into the Jalen Warren, Tutan, Reminds

Ray Stevenson, maybe up and above those guys a little bit.

But yeah, you know, I don't think the market's going to be overly excited to take David

Montgomery here and with the Texans.

And I'm kind of lukewarm on it also.

Final nail in the coffee for Joe Mixon, as we've known for the last calendar year.

So he's probably done here as well.

Other story out of this, Evan with Dave Montgomery was it kind of popped up that the Broncos

were in the mix for Dave Montgomery.

And that surprised some people who I think maybe have this opinion that RJ Harvey is going

to be some kind of year to break out.

The sense that I get is the Broncos don't see it that way.

They may bring back JK Dobbins.

They were in the mix for Dave Montgomery.

They've been linked to other free agent running backs.

It's not a great sign for RJ's Harvey's volume.

What do you think about Harvey here in year two with the backdrop of Dave Montgomery rumors

to the Broncos?

Yeah, I agree, you know, I've been kind of skeptical of RJ Harvey.

He came out as an older prospect and you expect the guy like that because he is a little

bit of advanced age to be ready to go right away.

When he gets into the NFL, he wasn't, he couldn't get ahead of JK Dobbins, JK Dobbins

gets hurt.

RJ Harvey kind of flashed a little bit, but you know, in that extended, in that extended

opportunity.

I mean, there were games where like he was losing stuff to Julio McGolfan, you know.

So he did not, you know, establish himself, RJ Harvey as any kind of like a locked in

lead back.

And I would be very surprised if they don't, if the Broncos don't at least bring back

JK Dobbins, if not try to upgrade on him.

I think that this is, RJ Harvey is a guy that can make plays when you throw him the

ball in the passing game.

But that's about the extent of his strengths as an NFL back, I think.

All right.

Let's go to story number two, which is the lion's side of this.

So I just think like, yes, Dave Montgomery's role was declining last year.

Obviously Gibbs has had some insane games and insane seasons with Dave Montgomery.

The biggest change to me without Dave Montgomery is TD expectation on Jameer Gibbs.

Over the last two seasons, lions have generated 57 carries from inside the five yard

line.

Dave Montgomery got 54% of them gives 42% even though Gibbs played in three more games.

So yeah, it's possible that the lions add.

I think they will add some other running back.

You know, maybe they could bring in a James Conner type or something like that.

But just getting Jameer Gibbs closer to 65%, maybe 70% of the goal line carries along with

everything else that he does in this offense.

I would take him first overall.

Now, there's still going to be people that are going to argue for B. John and we'll see

what happens.

Our year is almost certainly gone in free agency here.

But yeah, what do you think about the top now, Evan and lions outlook without Dave Montgomery?

And we did this way to early fantasy draft last week and I took B. John Robinson number

one overall and I would absolutely take Jameer Gibbs over B. John Robinson at this point

and it comes down to that touchdown upside that you're talking about.

It's immense, you know, 25 touchdown upside when you think about his rushing and his receiving

potential Jameer Gibbs with no Dave Montgomery there.

They're definitely going to add another running back whether it be a veteran or they draft

someone.

But this is Jameer Gibbs back.

We saw that kind of taking shape last year anyways.

But when you're comparing John Robinson to Jameer Gibbs, it's the touchdown upside and

it's the bank ability of the environment.

We don't even know who the Falcons quarterback is going to be, you know, there's a lot of

change going on in Atlanta.

There's a lot of they're running it back essentially in Detroit and we like that.

The lions are going to again be one of the highest scoring teams in football.

Yeah, totally agreed there on Gibbs.

I mean, when you talk about a guy who could catch 100 balls in a season, I don't think

this crazy Jameer Gibbs could catch 100 balls in a season.

And now you add in, could he run for 15 touchdowns in a season?

I think that's crazy either.

And so you put those two things together.

It's just insane.

Now, I do not think they should be out there giving Jameer Gibbs 300 carries.

So if they can keep him around 200 to 20 to 50, you know, I think that's the right range.

By man, he could have like a Marshall Falk like Lydany and Tom Watson type season.

Yep.

Jameer Gibbs.

Jamal Charles type.

Jamal Charles.

Johnson.

I'm talking about a massive ceiling.

I know.

And like I haven't done that many drafts yet, but my initial lean is that getting one of

these two guys is going to be a decent edge like Gibbs and Dijon at the top are going

to be a decent edge over everyone else.

All right.

Story number three.

We'll stick to the running back position here.

This was before the combine actually, Javante Williams comes back to Dallas.

They don't even let him hit for agency.

Javante Williams, three years, $24 million.

Now if you asked me a couple of years ago about this, I would have said, I don't know

how much longer Javante Williams is going to be in the NFL.

I mean, that 2022 meet injury tore his ACL, LCL, PLC.

He was not good upon his return.

There was zero market for him.

I mean, people were just Dallas got him for like basically the veteran minimum and then

he comes out and plays great.

And now he gets three years, 24 million.

So happy for him.

I honestly could have, I would have thought is more likely he's out of the league than get

this contract.

But good for him.

Evan, what do you think of Dallas's decision to bring back Javante here?

I think it makes sense for Dallas.

I thought Javante Williams agent crushed it because I don't think that if Javante Williams

had gone out into the free agent market, he would have been able to get a deal like this.

The Cowboys do have a reputation of kind of giving money to the wrong players.

And Javante Williams had a really solid season and he's going to be a great pick in fantasy

this year.

Again, I mean, we did that three round way too early draft.

He was one of the guys probably if we had gone another round, I mean, I think you might

have gone into fourth round, you know, bankable offense, really high scoring situation and

playing the passing game.

They just gave them money.

He's going to be a workhorse back again.

Yeah, we're at 46 overall right now on Javante Williams to kind of end of round four.

By the way, these ranks are going to change a ton, especially after the after NFL draft

will have a full overall other rankings.

I'm referring to our initial best ball rankings right now.

Yeah, this this contract for Javante, he's around 15th among all running backs in average

annual salary.

In this commitment, I'd be surprised if Dallas uses any real salary cap or draft capital

at running back.

And so that means like even the backup job, you know, Javante Williams, who wins this

backup job will be interesting to me, whether it's Jaden blue or film off, they do have

Malik Davis, but his contract is not guaranteed.

He could be gone here also.

So I don't know exactly what the Cowboys thought of Jaden blues rookie season.

That seemed like they did not like the way he practiced handle himself off field.

But I still think he can play.

And so I'll be watching Jaden blue closely to see if he can win that backup job behind

Javante.

They just don't have any more capital to spend.

I don't think at the running back position, if you're doing this deal with Javante.

So you know the Cowboys, let's go to story four.

They give the franchise tag to George Pickens one year, fully guaranteed 27.3 million.

As of course, predictably went nuts in his first year out of Pittsburgh, 93 catches,

1429 yards, nine touchdowns.

Cowboys say, prove it again, before doing a long term deal, long term deal with Pickens

would have cost like, I don't know, four years, 125 million or something like that.

So I think this is probably the right move for the Cowboys.

Evan, what do you think of their decision to franchise George Pickens?

I think it's definitely the right move.

You know, you put George Pickens in another contract year, the dude is freaking awesome.

We know what to expect now from George Pickens and Dallas, they're going to throw the crap

out of the ball.

It's going to be really hard to fix that defense that has just totally circled the drain.

So they're going to be a shootout team again, love it.

You know, Pickens was one of our biggest hits last year.

He was going in round five.

This year, it's not going to be that way.

His ADP right now is 22.9.

So end of this, end of the second round, you know, I think that's a fine price.

It scares me a little bit that some of his production last year was with CDLAM either

banged up or hurt.

When they were on the field together, George Pickens target per route run was 23%.

Lamb was at 28%.

In other words, when they played together, Lamb was the one out targeting Pickens.

Pickens went up to 26% target per route run.

Lamb was not on the field.

So I like George Pickens.

I just think that's like the right price, like I don't think you're getting any kind

of bargain late round two here on George Pickens.

Speaking of franchise tag story number five, old friend Kyle Pitz got the franchise tag

one year, 16.3 million guaranteed.

That is a lot on the tight end scale.

That is not a lot for the wide receiver scale.

Now I would not call Kyle Pitz a wide receiver.

He was in line for 57% of his snaps last season, but clearly what Kyle Pitz does best

isn't the physical stuff.

It's not the classic tight end stuff.

He's a pass catcher.

So everyone you think of Falcon's decision to put the franchise tag on Kyle Pitz.

Pretty expected, I would say, you know, there's a long history of tight ends that take a few

years to reach their peak in their progression and Kyle Pitz has obviously been that we can

talk about what are the reasons for that all day long as we have on every show, whenever

we talk about Kyle Pitz, you know, but the fact of the matter is he's coming off a really

good season as a receiving tight end.

However, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty in Atlanta.

We don't know who their quarterback is going to be.

If due quarterbacks on their roster right now, Eastern stick and Michael Pennix and Michael

Pennix is probably going to have to compete at very least.

And Kyle Pitz, the vast majority of his production came with Kurt Cousins at quarterback.

So I don't know about his fantasy outlook.

I'm probably, you know, I'm on the fence about that right now, but I think it made sense,

obviously, for Atlanta to retain him, Kyle Pitz coming off an excellent season and

still a young player.

I mean, I thought you played great last year.

It was still only nine hundred and twenty eight yards and five touchdowns.

And that's great, you know, for tight end and fantasy, but he's not like breaking things

out there like Tremac bride or kiddler, something like that.

But the positive sign that I saw from Kyle Pitz, lastly, we talked so much about inability

to beat, uh, safeties or inability to beat corners.

He showed that he can get open against anyone last year.

And maybe that was a testament to, hey, he wasn't really that healthy off that knee injury

the previous few years.

So yeah, he struggled so bad, but we've seen plenty of tight ends, like Evan said, struggled

at the outset of their career at some points early on and then come back and it happens

for them on their second contract or even on their third contract at times.

So yeah, we'll see on Kyle Pitz, you know, it's tough for me to get there at like, when

he goes in the 80s and the 70s, I just think that's too rich, but right now his ADP is

around 90.

And I think it's like palatable there as part of like a mid, a mid range tight end group

and best ball and stuff like that.

But yeah, also the last thing I said on Kyle Pitz, he's only 25 years old, man.

It's crazy.

He feels like he's like 30, 25 years old is Kyle Pitz.

All right.

Last franchise tag to get to is Bruce Hall, franchise tag by the Jets, they'll pay him

14.3 million on a one year deal.

It surprised me a little that they did not trade Bruce Hall at the deadline.

Last year when they did the sauce gardener trading all that, the cheese reportedly offered

around three pick.

Other people said it was around four pick, regardless.

It just proved the Jets want Bruce Hall, like the organization wants Bruce Hall wants

him there.

And then they put the franchise tag on him here and they say they're going to try to

work out a long term deal.

So they really like and want Bruce Hall in the mix.

The problem for us, Evan, is it's really hard to get excited about any Jets.

You know, I ended up like, I took care Wilson a little bit.

But for the most part, I was just trying to fade all Jets in the early rounds last year

and that worked out.

I think a lot of people are going to have that sentiment also coming up this year.

What do you think about Bruce Hall going back to the Jets on the franchise tag?

I mean, I'm still skeptical that he's going to be a Jets.

Yeah.

I mean, I just wonder if they're like trying to tag him so they could try to get something

for him.

You know, they're GM, Darren Moog, isn't his Moogie or Moogie.

He has been the Jets GM for about a calendar year at this point.

He has made nine trades.

Yeah.

He traded sauce gardener.

He traded Quentin Williams.

He traded Dremain Johnson.

I just wonder.

It doesn't make sense for the Jets to commit 14 million this year, let alone a long-term

extension to Bruce Hall at a relatively replacement level position when they're in a clear rebuild

and Darren Moogie's move suggests that he is aware that they are in a very clear rebuild.

So I'm just, I'm not sold that Bruce Hall is going to be a Jets in 2026 at the same time.

I think you were there right there with me.

We thought that Bruce Hall was going to be traded at the deadline last year.

Yeah.

I just say, I can't really make sense of this one.

I mean, his ADP is outrageous right now.

29.7 is Bruce Hall's ADP.

I would not be taking him there.

We're down at 37 overall in our rankings and like, it's just hard for me to click Jets

that high.

This team and franchise is just so, so broken.

I mean, but I don't doubt that Bruce Hall is a good player, deserving of this money and

this contract, like in a different situation.

I thought Bruce Hall coming out of a high state was like really underrated and he's proved

to be a very, very good, very good NFL player.

So I think it deserves the deal.

It's just, it's going to be kind of wasted on the Jets just like Ash and Jentie was wasted

on the Raiders last year, et cetera.

Let's go to story number seven.

This one happened just before we started recording here on Tuesday afternoon.

Daniel Jones gets the transition tag from the Colts.

This transition tag guarantees Colts the right of first refusal.

In other words, they have the right to match any offer sheet that he signs with another

club.

If Jones does not sign an offer sheet from another club, he will be on a one year 38 million

dollar deal, certainly possible.

They work on a long term deal here in the meantime.

So sounds like they want to keep him.

And I would suspect that they'll match most offers that Daniel Jones gets.

I could see the Vikings making an offer or something like that.

We'll talk more about the Vikings here in a second, but yeah, what do you think about

Daniel Jones transition tag by the Colts?

I think it makes sense for a player who's coming off of what a torn Achilles and a broken

leg to put him in another contract year and not to extend him long term.

I mean, if you are committing to Daniel Jones long term, aren't you putting a

cap on what your ceiling is as a team long term?

Because Daniel Jones can be functional and more than functional in Shane Stuykin's offense.

We've seen that pretty good offensive line that weapons galore.

He took advantage of that, but she's, I mean, he's no one's idea.

Daniel Jones has no one's idea of a top 12 quarterback in the NFL, so I think it makes

sense actually to put him in another contract year because I don't think there is a scenario

where he can become a 50 million a year player that you want to commit that kind of money

to.

I think they should try to try to just bring him back on a one year deal.

Yeah.

Through 10 weeks last season, Daniel Jones led the NFL in passing yards.

And he was like top six in most efficiency metrics and the Colts were eight and two.

So I understand why they want to make this commitment, right?

If you asked the Colts fans or the Colts management in week 10 last year, we have our guy,

like we can win the Super Bowl with Daniel Jones.

That's what it looked like.

They were one of the best offenses in the NFL.

Then I haven't mentioned the hairline fracture in his leg.

He tries to play through it.

Then he ruptures his Achilles in week 14, everything fell apart.

So I get what they're thinking.

My concern always is when you start committing huge money long term to mediocre quarterbacks,

you can get yourself in a lot of trouble.

Ask the dolphins about two or a million other, you know, examples of mediocre quarterbacks

getting cute.

Ask the giants about Daniel Jones.

Ask the giants about Daniel Jones.

You know, so, so yeah, I like keeping Daniel Jones on a one year deal, also kind of seeing

what happens with his injury.

But listen, if you want to get excited about Daniel Jones, go watch those first 10 games

from last season, the Colts played.

I mean, they were on fire.

I remember sitting here with Evan on Tuesday, being like, this is the best offense in the

NFL right now.

I mean, it was crazy what they did in the first couple of months of the season.

Story eight, Colts related, Anthony Richardson given permission to seek a trade.

So Daniel Jones transition tag, A rich is going to be gone via trade.

I could see or at least seeking a trade.

I could see plenty of teams.

I think teams should be giving a shot here.

If I am the Browns, if I am the Jets, if I am the Vikings, a 23 year old Anthony Richardson

who was the number four overall pick in the draft and has made 15.

He's only made 15 NFL starts and you're going to get him for like nothing.

Now if I'm the Browns or the Jets or even the Vikings, I would at least look at this.

Evan, where you at on Anthony Richardson, do you think he is done or do you think teams

will make an offer for him?

Oh, I think he's definitely worth a shot.

I mean, he's really didn't help himself by, you know, pulling himself out of the game

and pissing off Ryan Kelly a couple of years ago and, you know, getting himself injured

in pregame warmups and, but I mean, he's a young player.

I mean, we know that 23 years old.

Right.

And he's, you know, going through development in his, as a person.

So he certainly has a lot, we know that he has insane talent.

And I think of the template for when we're talking about what he might command in a trade

would be trade lance in 2023, who commanded a fourth round pick.

Now that was from the Cowboys, not even kind of felt like an overpay at the time.

I think the Colts might be able to get a fifth rounder for him.

And I definitely think that he's worth a shot to see if he can continue to develop, to

develop as a guy because we know that he has the potential to be like a baller.

I'm not saying somebody should sign him or trade for him as a starter.

Just let him come in and compete, you know, just let him come in and compete and let's

see what happens because there were definitely some flashes at times.

Anthony Richardson can certainly be a difference maker at the NFL level.

All right.

Story nine as we get into some rumors here.

This one, I don't understand.

You're going to have to explain this one to me, Evan.

There's so many rumors out there about the giants and running backs.

Everybody at the combine was allegedly like Ron on tweeted about it, all the giants

reporters, a ton of national reporters as well.

The story out of the combine was the giants are hungry for running back.

They have holes the giants do, in my opinion, at tackle all over the place, tackle, guard,

wide receiver, linebacker, secretary, everywhere, everywhere.

I could keep going with all their holes and they have cam scataboo and Tyrone Tracy under

contract cheaply.

So you're going to have to explain this to me why running back would be a priority for

the giants.

Evan here.

That was the talk of the combine.

What do you make of all the giants running back rumors?

God.

When things like don't make sense, you got to wonder if like there's something else going

on.

And is it like John Mera still embarrassed about the sake of on Barclay stuff, you know,

and being like Joe Shane, we got to go sign a big time running back, you know, like that

would be like what I might suspect because it doesn't make any sense to us, but that

might make sense to John Mera.

What about this theory?

John Harbaugh is such a boomer that he just wants to have like three or four, like good

running backs.

I mean, that's another potential theory.

Yeah.

I don't know, man.

Like they brought Matt Nagy in and like goddess.

I just don't have a great feeling about this.

I don't either for for John Harbaugh, what's so ever.

But we'll see what happens.

I mean, they will get to share my love here in a second.

But if they take your my love with their first pick, I that would be like one of the

most head scratching picks I can think of.

And even they've been linked like Kenneth Walker, Kenneth Walker, by the way, who the

CEO is going to let hit free agency, he's going to get a lot of money, you know, there's

not this is not a good running back draft class.

The free agent running back class is going to get real money, especially after Javante

Williams set the market, giant spending a bunch of money on Kenneth Walker.

I think that would be a crazy move also, but what do I know?

Yeah.

I'm not entirely sold.

The Jeremiah love is going to make it to the giant.

Okay.

I think he could go as high as number three to the card.

No, yeah.

Okay.

Well, again, we'll get to that in a second.

You're making my blood pressure rise here, but we'll get we'll get to that in a second.

Other rumor from the combine was the expected one, AJ Brown.

So how we rose was asked about this at the combine, he says, you know, which is true.

You can't win without great players, AJ is a great player.

We want to keep him now.

You can say that we want to keep him and also go shopping him, you know, how he's not

going to come out there and say, yeah, we want to get rid of him.

He would give up all his leverage.

I still think that a trade is very, very much on the table here, patriots, bills, there's

also a bunch of rumors out the combine, Eagles are in love with Devante Smith, which they

should be.

He's a baller and they want him to have more chances to explode this year.

So at this point, I'd probably call it 50 50 and the contract situation is not great

for AJ Brown and trying to trade him.

How he has though done this before with players with contracts that are hard to trade and execute

it.

So I get that standpoint.

I'm like 50 50 right now that AJ Brown is back with the Eagles.

What do you think about the current state of that situation?

I think it's a lock that he's going to be dealt.

I just, I mean, this has been going on for years.

This weird AJ Brown beef with Nick Sireon or whatever it is, I think they got to get rid

of him.

And I, you know, I said it on the, the draft show, like I would love to see him with New

England or Buffalo, he would be a real boon to his fantasy value.

Devante Smith would benefit.

I think it's going to happen.

Yeah.

So I thought, and I talked about this on that draft show, Evans referring to, I took

AJ Brown.

I believe it was like early round three.

And I just think like it can't get any worse for him.

He could get traded to a more throw centric team.

He could get traded to a team that's trailing more often.

The Eagles could throw the ball more, given the offensive line aging and stoutland departure

or Sean Manion could just be better than Kevin Patula, which I think is almost a lock.

So there's a lot of ways that we could be buying low on AJ Brown.

Maybe the part that I'm not considering, Evan is, do you think AJ Brown is still near

the top of his game?

Now, I've heard some people say it looks like he's declining.

I would say last year, it looked like he just didn't want to be out there.

He was just like pissed off.

And if he got traded, I still think he can reach kind of close to his full potential.

So I still think AJ Brown is near the prime of his career.

But I understand some people disagree where you are on AJ Brown, just as a player right

now.

I still feel pretty good about him.

Okay.

Yeah, I don't think that there's, I mean, it'll be interesting to see what Matt Harmon

has when he goes through and charts all of his routes.

I'll be paying attention to that.

But no, I think that the environmental factors were the biggest obstacle for AJ Brown

last season.

He'll turn 29 here later this summer will AJ Brown.

So getting closer to another white typical wide receiver clips around 30 or 31.

But, but I think still like the talent of his prime.

Speaking of the Eagles, Dallas Goddard reportedly gone in free agency, Matthew Berry, who, you

know, every year I love reading Matthews article from the combine.

They do not have much behind Dallas Goddard though, Grant Calcutera, Colin Granson.

I could see the Eagles drafting a tight end.

And there were also some rumors out there today, David and Joku and the Eagles could be interested

in each other here in free agency, which I think would be an interesting one.

So yeah, just interesting spots to watch there on the Eagles if AJ Brown leaves are going

to get a huge bump for De Montesmith and a huge bump for whoever the tight end is, whether

it's Granson, Calcutera, but more likely someone else that they bring in and Joku or something

like that.

Ross Tucker was talking about Dallas Goddard recently and Ross Tucker basically covers the

Eagles.

And Dallas Goddard's blocking fell off a cliff last year.

He was one of the worst blocking tight ends in the NFL.

His run after catch has kind of evaporated.

He was another guy who kind of came out of South Dakota state, old, he's 31 years old.

And there were trade rumors surrounding him last year.

So yeah, I think that Dallas Goddard is as good as gone.

Speaking of gone, Aaron Jones will be released per Adam Schefter feels like we're just

getting close to the end of the line here for Aaron Jones.

He'll be 32 years old in December.

Efficiency was way down last year.

JJ McCarthy did not help, but as of now, pretty big boost for Jordan Mason, who somewhat

I guess overwhelmed, but the situation was just underwhelmed.

I'm sorry, but just situation was just so bad with JJ McCarthy.

I don't think we really got a clean evaluation on Jordan Mason and kind of a workhorse role,

but yeah, Evan, what's your reaction to Aaron Jones being done in Minnesota?

And that that backfield is just in a state of flux.

Like they're definitely going to add to that backfield.

So it's TBD.

I don't think that Jordan Mason, Jordan Mason is all right.

You know, he's a, an OK rotational back, I think, but I think that they're going to want

to bring in somebody who's a little bit more dynamic, you know, what Aaron Jones used

to be.

And I think that no guarantees on Jordan Mason being the lead back by any stretch.

Yeah, early down thumper, you know, and like for fantasy, it's hard because you're not

going to catch many passes, Jordan Mason won't even the 49ers when he was like, you know,

kind of going off for them when McCaffrey was out, he didn't catch ton of passes.

And then also you got to score touchdowns, man.

And like the way the Vikings are set up right now, we'll talk about their quarterback situation

in a second, but you can't project a lot of touchdowns for them.

So it's just hard for Jordan Mason to get there.

And then we also have them likely to add more running backs here over the next few weeks.

Story 12, Kyler Murray will be released.

No surprise here.

I mean, when you get drastically outplayed, why'd you go be per set?

You effectively get benched.

You're going to be gone.

Now it's very expensive for the Cardinals to do this.

They really, really want to do it.

The question is, does anyone else see Kyler Murray as a starter?

There has been rumors of Vikings, Jets, Steelers, Dolphins.

It's a tough evaluation on Kyler, man.

He's such a unique player.

Do you think he is still an NFL starter and what do you think happens with him going forward?

I don't know.

I think that it's kind of up to him whether he is going to be a, whether he can be a quality

NFL starter again, Kyler Murray.

I'm kind of selfishly hoping that he goes to the Vikings.

Kevin O'Connell has a long history of working with a bunch of different types of quarterbacks

and having success with them, whether they'd be dual threats or veterans, and I would like

to see that.

I know that that's a rumor, Kyler Murray, potentially drawing interest from the Vikings.

They have a great on-paper pass catcher core there.

That would be my dream landing spot.

Let's talk about the Vikings for a second.

Obviously, they're bringing in competition for JJ McCarthy.

I've heard Anthony Richardson, I've heard Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins may be coming back.

I suggested Joe Flacco would be the best for Justin Jefferson.

I know people maybe didn't like that just because of his age, but man, if you're talking

about wide receiver production, Joe Flacco can give it to you.

Kyler, Mack Jones, I thought it would be interesting for the Vikings.

Their car out of retirement, Geno Smith is not nearly as bad as he played last year.

The Raiders' Messed Situation was just so messed up.

I think the Vikings have one.

Have there been many Mack Jones rumors?

Yeah.

He's under contract.

Yeah.

Forty-nineers claim that they're not getting much interest.

Hmm.

I don't really buy that.

I mean, Mack Jones showed last year he can play NFL quarterback.

If there was a draft day, like during the draft, Mack Jones traded to the Vikings, that

would not surprise me at all, like at all.

And the Florida winers are like, you know, they're competing for a Super Bowl every year.

So I think that they would take, you know, certainly like a third-bound pick for Mack

Jones.

Yeah.

And like Kevin O'Connell, I think these system quarterbacks, like this can work with,

you saw it work with Sam Darnold.

We've seen it work with Kirk Cousins, like Brock Purdy types, Mack Jones types, like this

is the kind of system that I think Mack Jones would play well in.

But yeah, we'll see.

Like, to me, that makes more sense than Kyler, but we'll see.

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All right, go to story 13 here.

We buried the lead.

Evan Notre Dame's own Jeremiah love went to the combine clocked in at six foot to 12 and

ran a 43640 that is faster than sake one faster than be John same as Gibbs.

The latest Daniel Jeremiah bigboard has Jeremiah love as the number two overall player in

this class.

So you already kind of tease that Evan, this is going to be a very, very high pick on

Jeremiah love.

What do you think about that?

What do you think about his 436?

Any other Jeremiah love thoughts?

Yeah, I love that he worked out because, you know, players don't really work out of

the combine anymore.

So it shows that he's got that competitive juice, man, and I mean, you could see that just

from the way that he runs the football, you know, everybody has seen that the one touchdown

there was against Penn State, you know, where he's does everything to get himself into

the end zone.

He reminded me as a back in college of Jameer Gibbs, but he is 13 pounds heavier than Jameer

Gibbs.

He also doesn't have a lot of wear on his tires because as a freshman, Jeremiah love

was behind Audric Estimae.

And then as a sophomore in junior, Jeremiah love split time with Jadarian price, who is

going to be a top 50 pick in the draft.

So Jeremiah love has fewer than 500 career college touches on his resume.

I like that.

I'm really excited about him as has like, and like I said, I think you can go as high

as number three Taylor zone.

Okay.

So we'll talk plenty about this ahead of the draft, but when you take a running back in

the top 10, typically it's to a bad team and running backs as we saw with Ashton

Gentie, as we saw with Saquon Barkley with the Giants, as we've seen with Bijan to some

degree.

It is difficult to move the needle when you're running back on a very, very bad team.

That doesn't sound like it's going to stop any of these teams from at least considering

Jeremiah love.

I haven't mentioned three to the Cardinals.

I've seen as high as four to the Titans, five to the Giants, seven to the commanders.

And by the way, there's a lot of smoke around the commanders adding running back here,

eight to the Saints.

And then the dream spot that a lot of people want to happen is nine to the chiefs where

Jeremiah love goes, give some explosiveness to this passion for homes offense, especially

in the run game that it's been lacking.

So it sounds very, very unlikely.

Jeremiah love is going to get out of the top eight, top nine here in this draft.

And yeah, I mean, that alone is exciting for his fantasy outlook.

One other thing to note about Jeremiah love potentially going in the top five is that

if you just think about the context of this draft, it's not considered a particularly

strong draft.

A lot of that is because NIL, you know, college players are getting paid.

They don't have to necessarily go to the NFL.

There are scenarios where college players are getting more from NIL than they would on

their rookie deal.

So the draft isn't as strong as it normally would be.

And also the running back position is not particularly strong.

It's Jeremiah love way, way, way up at the top.

And then there might not be another first round running back.

So those things work in his favor.

If a team sitting there and it's like, man, we feel like Jeremiah love is about as much

of a lock as you can get, let's just take the best player on our board.

Boom.

Jeremiah love ends up being a top five pick.

Yeah.

See, I think it makes way more sense for the chiefs to use the top 10 pick on the running

back than it does on other team.

Not that I'm saying the chiefs should because they have plenty of holes elsewhere on their

roster.

And I like it for these good teams way more than the bad teams.

Just for the record, here's the running backs drafted in the top 10 since 2015, Todd

Gurley, Ezekiel Elliott, Lannford Nett, Christian McCaffrey, Sikwan Barkley, Bijan, and

Gentie.

I mean, that's it.

You know, so yeah, we know that those guys are getting huge workloads.

We are going to have a very, very big projection.

Pretty much no matter where he lands on Jeremiah love.

I'm just checking where we're at right now on him.

Yeah.

We're at 18 overall right now on Jeremiah love right in that like Hampton, Gentie, Sikwan,

Derek Henry range.

All right.

Story 14, also from the combine Ohio Statewide receiver, Carnell Tate ran a four, five,

three.

It's kind of weird.

Like, I saw Carnell Tate being mocked and on big boards in the top five in the top 10.

So why run?

Like, none of these guys run anymore.

It doesn't really matter.

Why run?

Well, he went out there and ran.

He ran a four, five, three.

And then he has to get the embarrassment of like the agents have to tell Shafter and

Rapsheet.

Oh, it was actually, you know, that it's hand timed a four, four, seven or something

like that.

I want to say the important thing to me from this is the correlation between 40 time and

NFL production.

The wide receiver position is like non-existent.

It does not matter if guy really runs a four, four or four, five, five.

So my only concern on this for Carnell Tate is it make drops him down the draft board

a little bit.

I just don't think that it should.

But yeah, evident any reaction to Carnell Tate running and running a four, five, three

at the combine.

Well, the fact that again that this is, you know, considered not the greatest draft,

I mean, it's not that that will help Carnell Tate.

I thought this was interesting.

So Lent Zearline compared Carnell Tate to Chris O'Lava, Chris O'Lava ran a four, three,

nine.

Daniel Jeremiah compared Carnell Tate to CD Lam who ran a four, five at six, two, one,

ninety eight.

Carnell Tate ran four, five, three at six, two, one, ninety two.

I wonder if Carnell Tate might end up being like a 50, 50 perimeter slot guy like CD Lam

for his projection and also Lent Zearline characterized Carnell Tate as like a zero

receiver.

So I don't know if we're talking about a player that's going to, you know, take, take

that.

We'll see what Runner has to say.

Yeah.

I don't know if this is a player that's going to take the top off the defense.

He might be a guy who works more in the intermediate and in the middle of the field.

We love those dudes in fantasy.

I mean, those dudes rack up targets and rack up receptions.

I'm not worried about the four, five, three, but I do think that you're right.

It could end up that Carnell Tate maybe goes, you know, somewhere between 10 and 17,

Olave was 12 overall, I believe.

And CD Lam was like 18, adjust that for this being a week or draft.

And maybe we're talking about a guy who's maybe hovering in the top 10, but not going

in the single digits.

Yeah.

It's an interesting evaluation, you know, I'm far from a tape bro, but I'm very curious

what people think about a guy who wins on contested catches, did not have a ton of college

production, especially in big games.

So yeah, but he's, I mean, I was actually shocked at how high he was getting mocked and everything.

But we'll see.

It seems like the NFL certainly likes Carnell Tate.

We'll see what happens after this four, five, three.

Speaking of the NFL, I don't know if you saw this Evan, story number 15, Mackay Lemon

gave like this interview and it was just weird.

And this is just like such a Twitter bubble thing where everybody will just wants to dunk

on Mackay Lemon.

I don't really think anything of it, you know, it didn't strike me as a red flag.

You know, Keon Coleman's had some really weird interviews also and I think that's not helping

Mackay Lemon because Keon Coleman's a weird dude and he's kind of gone on to bust a little

bit through the early part of his career.

So people are like, oh, I don't want to get Keon Coleman here by Mackay Lemon.

So I get it from that perspective.

There was some other talk, not just a media interview that when he interviewed with teams,

he didn't interview particularly well, didn't Mackay Lemon.

That also seems like noise to me, man, like the dude can play, he can play and I do think

Mackay Lemon can really play.

So I don't know if you see even saw this, everyone, any thoughts on Mackay Lemon.

I did see that Mackay Lemon when he was doing his interview with, you know, he had a lot

of motion going on.

So that was interesting.

I mean, at the end of the day, who cares, he won the MFN Blitnikoff award.

So baller.

And then I looked at it because I saw you put this in the notes and I was like, was he

talking about the motion interview, what was he talking about?

And this stemmed from Braden Fahoko who spent a couple years in the NFL with the chargers.

I follow him and I had to mute him a while ago because he's just, we don't have to have

an opinion about everything.

You know what I mean, like, and he was like, you know, I don't know, he was a really annoying

follow.

It was kind of interesting, but I'm done with this.

And then another source of this information about the bad interviews came from someone

named Anthony Betts with two S's at the end.

So I thought, what is this guy, like some gambling Twitter guy?

I don't know, he has like 10,000 followers.

I mean, it's just something that like, Braden Fahoko just threw out there and then like

Dove Kleinman ran with it, you know, I'm not really putting a whole lot of stock in

that.

Uh, on the real stuff from a kind of lemon, people were worried about his size.

He measured 511, 192, which I thought was a good measurement for him.

And yeah, I think he's going to be very, very productive, interested to see what the

prospect grows say about him.

All right, story 16, holy shit.

I couldn't Mike Washington running back out of Arkansas was projected to be like a

fourth or fifth round pick like didn't do that much in college.

I don't know where this guy trained for the combine 61223 and ran a 433 also at the

second best broad jump and the second best vertical among all running backs.

I mean, he's just out there breaking every combine model.

Let me say that again, 61223 and ran a 433.

I assume this is going to make him go higher in the draft.

I'm just not sure that it should, but man, that was impressive.

He's clearly a very, very, very athletic guy having any thoughts on Mike Washington

breaking the combine at the running back position.

Well, I'm not to the point where I have watched in depth Mike Washington.

Um, however, his profile on paper, when you read like glance,

zero lines right up on him, you look at the athleticism.

You look at the disappointing production, the fact that he was never a true

featureback. He went to three different colleges, Buffalo,

New Mexico state in Arkansas, even as a fifth year senior at Arkansas,

he was not a workhorse.

He average like 12 carries a game or something like that.

Fumbling issues.

It brought some of my Nile Davis.

Do you remember Nile Davis of Kansas City, who was such a tease, huge

dude who I think he had like kickoff return and touchdowns, but he just was

not an instinctive runner with zero, zero line was big back who runs small.

And that profile is, is scary, but the teams will know.

I mean, the teams will be like, Oh, we, they probably already know that he was

going to crush the combine.

Yeah.

And he's just not that very, you know, not a very good player.

Um, and he'll probably end up going in like the fourth or fifth round.

No, but guess.

I mean, he reminds me of Isaac Orindo.

Like when I saw the Isaac Orindo, like runs out of college and then his

combined, I was like, man, if this guy gets a chance, he's going to break some

big plays and he did, but he's not really an NFL feature back.

And I think teams kind of see through that on guys like this.

So we'll see.

But man, this wasn't just like, Hey, he tested well.

This was like all time testing from Mike Washington.

Yeah, I don't think the teams really fall for that kind of a player anymore.

Remember Chris Henry, not the Bengals receiver, but the running back who the

Titans took way before that just, you know, anybody was expecting that just

really doesn't happen anymore.

I don't think it's go to story number 17, the tight end position at the combine.

Two guys really stood out.

And I think we need to know first Eli Stowers 64239, ran a 451, 45 and a half

inch vertical.

And then Kenyon Sedeek from Oregon, six, three, two, 41 and ran a four,

three, nine at the tight end position.

I mean, Kenyon Sedeek is probably going to go in round one here.

Definitely needs to be on our radar.

So yeah, I mean, the way the NFL is going.

And again, I know we've talked about this a bunch.

Titan's going to get pushed up the board here as more teams need to

want, need slash want to have two on the field, have three on the field.

So it's exciting for these guys.

Stowers will probably go a little bit later.

But yeah, having any thoughts on these two tight ends who tested really well at the

combine.

Yeah.

Stowers crushed it.

He's a little bit smaller.

He's 239 pounds.

He's a receiving only tight end former quarterbacks.

Only played tight end for three years.

But that suggests that, you know, he's got room for improvement.

And he won the MF and Mackie award.

And we know that those guys tend to do real well in the NFL.

So and he also had multiple years of production.

He was a first team all SEC pick in each of his final two years.

Kenyan Siddyk is so young.

He turns 21 tomorrow.

So shout out Kenyan Siddyk for being super, super young.

His profile reminds me of David and Joku, who also wound up being a first round pick.

David and Joku like Kenyan Siddyk was like 20 years old when he was coming out of

college, athletic freak.

Maybe it'll take a little bit of time for Kenyan Siddyk as it did with David and Joku.

But I mean, highly intriguing athletic specimen, no question.

Yeah.

Story 18 from the combine Broncos announced that Davis Web, not Sean Peyton is going

to call plays in 2026.

This, I don't know.

It just struck me as weird.

Like Sean Peyton has always called his own plays.

I think the team gets an AFC's number one seed.

And now he decides to give that up to a 31 year old Davis Web.

Like I don't just struck me as weird.

Have any thoughts?

Have it on why Sean Peyton might want to be doing this or any changes you think Davis

Web might try to make?

I, you know, I almost like don't buy it.

You know, I almost like think that maybe this is something that they'll try for a few

games and Sean Peyton.

I mean, I love Sean Peyton.

Okay, don't get me wrong, but he's definitely a guy who's high on himself.

I know, I don't think that he's going to be cool with another guy calling

plays for his team.

I think that he's going to end up or he's he's going to have an immense amount of say in

what play calls are called.

Yeah.

One thing that I thought Sean Peyton did a really good job with Bo Nick's and maybe

a lot of this was probably Bo Nick's also, but man, he avoided sacks so well.

I mean, this was the best sack rate in NFL last season was Bo Nick's just not taking

any sacks.

And obviously that's a huge part of playing well at the quarterback position.

And I think play calling has at least something to do with that.

All right.

Story 19.

Yeah, so David Blau, who is now, you guys might remember Bling Blang Blau from the preseason days.

He might have had a couple of regular season starts also, but I distinctly remember playing

him in preseason DFS, but he is now the offensive coordinator for the commanders.

And he had this quote that would have gone like mega viral in August.

But because it was February, nobody really saw it or cared.

But he said, this offense is going to be built around.

How do we get Terry McClure in 10 targets in a game?

Obviously, it's easy to sit here and say that in February.

Hey, we're going to go get our best receiver 10 targets a game, but at least it shows some

intention.

And also, Debo Samuel, not expected back with the commanders here.

He is a free agent.

So I get it.

I get being high on Terry McClure, but Evan, would you think of that quote and Bling Blang Blau

as the commander as the commander's OC?

Listen, I want to be clear about something.

I'm pretty sure that I coined the term Bling Blang Blau.

I think you're right.

Sure I did.

Who else could possibly have said that on this wallcast back in the day?

He had like a star on Thanksgiving, I don't want to say for the Lions.

Sounds familiar.

We talked about him, you know, as a DFS play.

Yeah, I mean, it's just as simple as like, dude, Cliff Kingsbury.

Why is this dude running 80% of his routes in one spot?

It's just, it's real simple.

Let's get the ball to our best player.

Let's not have him so that, you know, in the same spot every time so that Quignon Mitchell

can just walk, you know, take him away.

Like, let's find out different ways to get the ball to Terry McClure, and he's an excellent

route runner.

We're going to build our passing offense through him and Jane Daniels.

Just common sense.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm a little skeptical, obviously like 10 targets game is not going to happen,

right?

I mean, McClure has been at 7.8, 6.9, 6.0 targets begin in the last three years, he'll

be 31 in September.

I will say though, gone, Jane and Daniels healthy, bling bling bling blow talking like

this.

Like, I think that we're at 45 overall right now on term, McClure in the wider C for 23.

I think there's some upside on that if Jane and Daniels can return to that rookie year

form.

That's something we're going to have to work through because Jane and Daniels, even when

he was healthy last year, I didn't think was that great.

So yeah.

But I do think there's some meat on the bone there for term, McClure in a wider C for 23.

All right.

Last couple of things.

I just want to get your take, Evan.

If someone that goes to the combine, I know you didn't go this year, but goes to the

combine a lot, how can we save the combine because the sample of players who participate

in the combine is making this so skewed like almost no one shows up relatively few prospects

actually compete in any of the drills at the combine more.

So what we end up with is a bias sample.

The sample that we get from the combine are the guys who think or know they're going

to test well and everyone else just says, ah, I'm good.

I'm just going to measure an interview or whatever.

So I want like the full sample.

I don't only want to see what guys do well.

I want to see like the full sample of uniform measurables on all of these guys.

I don't know if we're ever going to get that again, which kind of makes me sad.

So I don't know.

What do you think about the state of the combine is to make you not want to go ending back

anymore?

The easiest fix in the history of the world.

You pay them to go.

You pay them to do the drills.

You give them money.

Money makes the world go around.

You pay them.

And the NFL has plenty of money.

So that's what you need to do if you want to see all the dudes run their three cone time,

you know, which is like the most important measurement.

It's like the best athletic measurement that we have one of the most predictive at least

and like no one's doing it.

Someone said that there was maybe one running back who did the three cone drill.

Yep.

That sucks.

Yeah.

It really does.

And like it's getting harder and harder on prospect evaluation.

Not only do we have holes in the data here from combine where we just don't get a lot

of data, but these guys are now staying in school until they're like 25 years old playing

against 18 and 19 year olds, you know, and like adjusting everything for that is something

that is important as well.

So yeah, it's not really changing out there in the prospect streets.

Last one that Evan added, you guys know Evan is a closeted bears laundry bro.

And so you made sure to add not put that out there in the nature to add this to the Andrew

Dolman who just signed a three year 42 million dollar deal by the way out of the stone

blue decides the retire.

This was today, I believe, and we're recording this Tuesday.

Really weird one.

Evan, any thoughts on you, Dolman, deciding to call it quits.

He's like 27 years old or something.

Yeah.

I mean, it came out of nowhere.

And man, that's got to really hurt the bears because the bears need a starting left tackle

already.

They basically said publicly that as you triple is not going to play in 2026 if they do

get him back or be way at the end of the season coming off that ruptured, ruptured

for teller tendon and Theo Benedict proved to be not the answer and Braxton Jones is

a free agent.

You're starting left tackle and now they need to replace their pro bowl center who they

just signed last year to a big deal.

We know that the bears so much of their success this past year was came from fixing the offensive

line under Ben Johnson and now they need to refix it.

Through Dolman, I'd love to get in his head because he signed that three year 42 million

dollar deal.

I'm trying to find hexagon when he's gotten so far, but he's leaving a lot on the table.

There's absolutely no doubt.

So I'm sure he has his reasons.

I love to talk to him about it, but man, how rich to just bail on a three year 42 million

dollar deal.

You remember how Frank Ragnar, like kind of tried to come back last year?

I wonder if he would entertain going to the bears, although the lions still have his

rights, though.

So I don't know.

I was thinking that it's probably not an option for the bears.

It might be more likely that Frank Ragnar, if he were to come back, he would be the starting

center for the lions.

Right.

But I don't know.

The bears are going to need to get creative.

They got creative last off season with the Jotuny trade.

Jotuny's old now.

He's coming off a great season.

The bears got to fix their offensive line again.

For sure.

That is going to do it for our 20 things we saw at the NFL Combine 2026.

Coming up soon, NFL free agency.

Be sure you are subscribed here on YouTube or on iTunes as we cover everything.

The fallout from free agency, which is always one of the most fun times of year.

We'll see where Kenneth Walker lands and a ton of other running backs.

Four.

Heaven.

Appreciate Ryan.

Appreciate Luke.

I'm Adam.

Good luck.

Everybody.